No, wait, it’s for an equally trivial crime: he founded a blog network that is critical of political and religious figures, he disobeyed his father (he is 31 years old), and he does not believe in god. Ed Brayton better watch out.

One of his great crimes is that he once wrote about Valentine’s Day, a prohibited holiday in Saudi Arabia.

This is what theocracy takes us to. And Saudi Arabia is one of our allies? Shouldn’t we have better taste in friends?

Comments

Yep, always a good plan to persecute the best and brightest. That way those best and brightest not already in jail will leave the country. This will hasten the country’s decline … which is the goal, right?

I think it was a mistake for the petition to include this “… because without freedom of speech, one can not counter the dangerous beliefs of extremist Islam that leads ultimately to terrorism and threatens the safety of all people around the world.”

I think for the broadest application of this petition, it would have been more useful to just refer to the general nature of the human right to free speech and expression of ideas.

Saudi Arabia is a harsher dictatorship with less freedom for minorities and women then both Iraq under Saddam and Iran, and yet it is an ‘ally’, while Iraq had to be freed, and now Iran according to some.

Whenever some brainwashed rightwinger brings the ‘we have/had to bring freedom to the Iraqi people’ bullshit line, I always ask why we don’t/didn’t start with Saudi Arabia, because it is far worse there. Of course, no answer is ever forthcoming, because an answer to that question was never spoon-fed to them via the ‘liberal’ media.

It is my understanding they aren’t administered in a row, but spaced out over a long period (say, 10 lashings a day, for 60 days). So no, not a death sentence. Doesn’t make it any less barbaric though.